A Framework to Evaluate Health, Safety, and Environmental Performance using Resilience Engineering Approach: A Case Study of Automobile Industry

Background and Objective: Supplier selection plays a significant role in sustainable supply chain management. Current studies have mainly concentrated on economic factors for the selection and evaluation of suppliers, and few emphases have been focused on the triple factors of sustainability, including economic, environmental, and social elements. The improvement of Health, Safety, and Environmental (HSE) performance levels promotes the sustainability of the companies in terms of social and environmental responsibility. Therefore, this study aimed to present a framework to evaluate the HSE performance of suppliers; moreover, it was attempted to rank the performances based on the proposed framework. Materials and Methods: The HSE performance evaluation criteria were determined after reviewing the literature and obtaining expert opinions. Subsequently, Multi-Criteria Decision Making techniques were utilized simultaneously to rank the suppliers. In addition, the resilience engineering approach was employed to determine the HSE performance criteria and indicators. This approach is a novel method, compared to traditional safety management techniques. In total, four Iranian auto parts manufacturers (grade A) were selected as the suppliers and evaluated in this study. Results: Out of the determined criteria and among the final indicators, "management commitment" and "allocating sufficient budget to the HSE measures" achieved the highest ranks, respectively. Furthermore, the prominent supplier was selected based on these criteria. Conclusion: This study utilized the opinions of decision-makers and managers regarding determining and ranking the HSE criteria. Therefore, the proposed model in this study can be practically applied to evaluate the suppliers. Doing this, the supplier companies can be encouraged to improve the occupational health and safety of their employees and implement environmental-friendly strategies in production policies.